5 Secret Shortcuts to Unlock Productivity Everyday
June 20th is World Productivity Day! Celebrate by stealing tips and tricks to get more done.
Focus better at work and home with customizable white noise, options to block certain websites, different note taking styles, and temptation bundling.
Cut down on time wasted in email with features like Mute Notifications, drag to read, customizable swipes, and Smart Reply — all found in Edison Mail.
Everybody wants to be more productive — how to get the most out of each day and stay on top of your to do list remains elusive to most of us. We all struggle to keep up with new demands of wearing multiple hats — employee, partner, friend, parent — the list goes on. But being productive doesn’t have to be limited to only the moments inspiration strikes or when you can steal a few hours back on the weekend, it can easily become an everyday good habit if you know the right shortcuts. That’s why today, on World Productivity Day, we decided to share a few of our team’s favorite hacks to stay on top of everything we need to do.
1. Embrace the White Noise
Everybody needs something different to concentrate and stay on task. For those of us that are distracted by nearby conversations or noise pollution from construction in the area, white noise is your friend. Websites like mynoise.net make an easy way to tune out the rest of the world by offering a selection of some of the best background sounds — from Distant Thunder and White Rain, to Gregorian Chants — so you can really concentrate on what’s in front of you .
2. Banish Online Distractions
For people who are constantly tempted to stray back to using the internet during tasks or anyone that can’t fight the lure of checking Twitter or Facebook for updates, StayFocusd is a nifty Google Chrome extension that allows users to set a time limit for distracting websites before blocking them completely for a defined amount of time.
3. Get Creative with Note Taking
Generic note taking isn’t for everyone. For some of us, capturing thoughts is achieved better with nonlinear methods like mind maps on a desktop, which is why Text2MindMap is a great option. With multiple colors, the ability to easily see links between different ideas, and an intuitive system, this website helps those who are tired of the generic note taking format.
4. A Steady Stream of Rewards
The thing is, sometimes the only way to keep yourself productive is by treating yourself like a five year old. This can mean bribing yourself to stay on track through something known as “temptation bundling.” What this is, is essentially keeping yourself on task by giving yourself a personal reward for every task you accomplish, and limiting the rewards to these times. This can be promising yourself a bag of Hot Cheetos for every blog post you finish, only splurging on lattes when you complete designing a new slide deck, getting a bite of cake for every Jira Task you resolve, etc. Your tasks earn your rewards.
5. Cut Down On Your Email Time
Email is essential for work, school, and life. It’s meant to help us be more productive, but too often it’s just another obstruction on the road to productivity. That’s why Edison Mail offers consumers these thoughtful tricks to make every interaction with their mailbox more efficient. Here’s what you need to know.
Keep your focus by limiting how often your phone lights up to tell you when a new email arrives. Use the app’s settings to mute notifications from certain senders. That way the only time your screen lights up is for emails will be those that you deem important enough to break your concentration.
To whip through your mail at lightning speed, a fan favorite secret shortcut in our app is the ability to touch and drag the blue dot on the upper left corner of unread emails in your inbox to mark them as read. The sender will never know how quickly you cleared through their messages without opening a single one.
Make your mailbox an extension of your working style. Customize your swipes to work the way you do, from the Swipe Options choice from the Settings Menu. Choose for yourself what the four swipe options — Short-swipe Left, Long-swipe Right, Short-swipe Right, and Long-swipe Right — shortcut to. For example, set any of them to Archive, Snooze, Trash, Mark Read/Unread, Flag, or Move that email from your inbox. Breeze through your inbox in a flash.
Finally, send your responses faster by letting our machine-learning based Smart Reply feature suggest a reply for you, so you don’t need to think twice about saying the right thing and moving on.
Download the Edison Mail App Today
Learn more about how you can use Edison Mail for iOS, Mac, and Android to their fullest potential. Reduce spam, and access your favorite email services like Gmail, Yahoo, Microsoft Exchange, Comcast, and more in a clean unified inbox.
